Light Like The Pros

The American Hockey League (AHL)and power management company Eaton today announced thatToyota SportsPlex,representing the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, is among the ten (10) community skating rinks across North America selected as quarter-finalists in the innovative consumer promotion, “Light Like the Pros,” which will award a free Ephesus LED sports lighting system, valued at more than $50,000, to one community ice skating rink in an AHL market.

The Toyota SportspPlex opened it’s doors to the public in the fall of 2009, and has since become a focal point for Northeast Pennsylvania’s winter sports fanatics. The facility offers those new to the sports of ice skating and ice hockey detailed instruction through various classes; hosts in-house and travel leagues for youth and adult ice hockey players; provides ice for numerous high school and college teams; and serves as the practice home of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Toyota SportsPlex also features numerous opportunities for youngsters to participate in public skating sessions throughout the week, and has played an important role in the greater Luzerne County community, as it has hosted fundraisers, town halls, blood drives, and non-profit meetings. During flooding in the fall of 2011, the building served as the nerve center for Wilkes-Barre city safety operations, and is currently used as a polling station for local, state and national elections.

Second round voting in the contest takes place from February 6 through March 2 at LightLikeThePros.com. On March 5, four rinks will advance to the finals for two additional weeks of voting. Although vote totals are being reset at the onset of the semi-finals, all votes recorded from February 6 through March 18 will be counted. The winning rink will be selected based upon a 75%-25% combination of their vote totals and essay score.

At the start of the 2017-18 AHL season, ice skating rink owners, coaches, and even hockey moms and dads across North America nominated their rinks by sharing why their rink is deserving of a state-of-the-art LED lighting retrofit solution and the importance of the rink to their community. A panel of judges from Ephesus and the AHL narrowed the field to 33 rinks and then throughout January, more than 40,000 online votes were casts as communities demonstrated how much they love their local skating rink.

“Numerous AHL teams have benefitted from Eaton’s Ephesus LED lighting and control systems in their arenas, so it’s fitting that we are able to provide one deserving community skating rink in an AHL market with the same great lighting that our players and fans experience at many AHL arenas,” said Christos Nikolis, executive vice president, Marketing and Business Development for the AHL. “It’s obvious from the strong support that these 10 rinks got during the initial voting stage that they are all valued members of their communities.”

After the refrigeration system, lighting is typically an ice rink’s largest electricity consumer as a typical ice rink uses its lights for more than 6,500 hours annually. Metal-halide lighting systems, which are currently installed at most skating rinks, generate heat that must then be removed from the building by the ice refrigeration system. In contrast, energy-efficient LED lights use less energy, generate less heat and help reduce the load on the rink’s ice plant refrigeration system. An ice rink that makes the switch to LED can typically expect a 70 percent reduction in energy use, as well as a near-elimination of maintenance costs.

“Our Ephesus LED sports lighting solution is well-known for illuminating some of the most famous sports venues in the world, including more than a dozen AHL and NHL arenas. What many people don’t realize is that LED sports lighting is now a reality for fields, arenas and ice skating rinks of all sizes,” said Mike Lorenz, president, Eaton’s Ephesus Lighting business. “We hope that by rewarding one deserving rink with this fantastic prize, we’ll inform all hockey rinks across North America that LED lighting is within their reach.”

Eaton’s Ephesus light-emitting diode sports lighting product line provides optimallighting that illuminates more uniformly on the playing surface and offers an improved stage for players and fans. The system is easy to install, requires little to no maintenance for years and offers the lowest total operating costs compared to other traditional sports lighting systems.